A Window Cleaners Fight Against Cancer

‘Amazing, upbeat attitude’ helps in battle with cancer: Doris Clayton was giddy. Giddy as in giggly, talking so fast she had to pull her car off to the side of the road. She was on her way to her chiropractor when we first connected. But it was her oncologist who had just called with some pretty exciting news. Blood tests showed her cancer level was down a tad. Which is great news, as this was the second time the numbers had decreased since Clayton had to stop conventional treatment a couple months ago after becoming allergic to the chemo.

Clayton has been battling “a very aggressive form of breast cancer” since 2004. She’s been through chemo three times in the past six years. And each time the cancer came back, “it did so with a vengeance, starting with a small lump in my breast and metastasizing later to lymph nodes, liver, chest cavity, bones and the fluid around my brain.” Without treatment, Clayton, a Sandwich resident who owns a window-washing business, figured it was a matter of time before the cancer finally won. Then a couple months ago, Yorkville chiropractor Dr. Nathan Thompson “gave me a book to read ...”

Clayton figures Thompson knew she had cancer since she’s bald and doesn’t wear a wig. But the chiropractor told me later “so many people know Doris and her amazing, upbeat attitude” as she fights cancer. Thompson offered her a book called “Cruise Ship or Nursing Home,” which touts fighting disease through a natural approach that includes a no sugar low carb diet. With her oncologist’s blessing, Clayton started seeing Thompson at his center. The chiropractor adjusted her spine, which he said must be aligned properly in order for the central nervous system to do its part in healing, and put her on the strict no-sugar diet.

“We don’t treat cancer,” Thompson was quick to point out. “But we work on getting the body healthy.” And part of that process, he said, is building a better relationship between the brain and the body and getting rid of toxins that can feed the tumor. One month later, Clayton said her cancer cell count went from 66.9 to 64. And on this day, she’s positively ecstatic because it dropped a few more points. She’s not out of the woods by any means. “But you can see it’s definitely headed in the right direction.” Plus, she feels wonderful, said husband Jim, her staunchest supporter. She’s not only dropped 25 pounds, but her hair, even her eyelashes are growing back. “Girls don’t know how much we love eyelashes until we don’t have any,” Clayton quips.

Dr. Mohammed Raheem, Clayton’s oncologist at Dreyer Medical Clinic and an integral part of her ongoing fight with cancer, is thrilled his patient is feeling well. But that’s not necessarily surprising, he noted. When patients take breaks from chemo, as can be necessary in long battles with the disease, they inevitably feel better. Nor is it uncommon for the cancer cells to stabilize for a time. But he is far from convinced a no-sugar diet and spinal adjustments are going to make a difference in the long run. And his greatest concern is that patients will turn away from more conventional medical treatments.

Clayton understands these concerns but doesn’t let them rain on her parade. Curing cancer has a lot to do with attitude, she says. And neither of her doctors disagrees. Clayton, a musician who sits on the board of directors for the Northern Illinois Bluegrass Association, said when she was first diagnosed, she named her tumor “Tina Tumor … because Tina (Turner) never did nuthin’ nice and easy.” Then she went about trying to live each day with the same spunk and determination. A couple weekends after her mastectomy, Clayton was playing her upright bass at a festival. And today she’s leading a bluegrass jam at Dickson-Murst Farm in Montgomery.

“When Dr. Thompson handed me that book, it was meant to be,” she said. “Until today I thought about dying every day of my life for the last six years. Today, I’m thinking about living.”

Doris loved all things musical at a very early age. At the age of nine, she started singing with the family on the front porch of their home while her mother accompanied them on the accordion. While attending high school in Southern Missouri she did cross the line to rock music but in her twenties, she returned to the bluegrass music that she loved. Doris once attended a bluegrass festival in Norway, IL where she saw Bill Monroe. From then on she attended every bluegrass festival she could. At that point she was not aware that besides listening to the music, there were jam sessions taking place as well. She would listen to the music and then go home!

Another milestone for Doris was through hammer dulcimer player Bill Robinson. She loved the sound and the looks of those beautiful instruments so she purchased an experimental dulcimer made from plywood with the proviso that if they wanted to sell it, they would sell it back to Bill. Doris played that instrument for a little while before graduating to other instruments, but the dulcimer still hangs on her wall as a reminder of her musical passion.

Doris has an interesting musical life, having played in several bands including “The Bottom Line”,“End Of The Road” and ”Smokey Mountain Haze”. The most recent band she played with was “Truman’s Ridge” . Doris states that “the band members were like brothers to me”. Truman’s Ridge made their first CD in 2009 and performed at festivals in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Missouri. Due to health issues, Doris had to retire from the group but still continues to fill in at jams with musicians like “Lillie Capes and her Hello Dollies”, her favorite jam buddies from “Bluegrass Escape” and anyone else who needs a bass player!

Before Doris became an active musician she was an avid equestrian. She purchased what she described as the best horse she ever owned – a double registered buckskin quarter horse – from NIBA member Skip Sittig. He noticed a banjo in the corner of her house, asked if she liked bluegrass music, and before she knew it, she was attending her first jam at Harding. She then bought an 1890 German bass named “Truman” which had been played at a political convention attended by Harry S. Truman. Doris researched the history of this instrument and wrote an article on it which was published in “Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine” in January 2002.

It has not been all play and no work though. Doris served on the NIBA board for about eight years as treasurer, membership chairperson, and flier distributor. She has also organized three fundraisers at the Sandwich opera house to raise money for the Fox Valley Older Adults Association. In 2008 and 2009 she organized “Bluegrass in the Streets” in Sandwich. Even now, despite health issues, she is taking an active role on the NIBA board of directors. In 2005 Doris was awarded the “Ambassador of Bluegrass Award” by Terry Lease and the Midwest Bluegrass Association. In her acceptance speech for the Ambassador Award Doris stated “If all the people in the world could be as nice as the people in bluegrass, wouldn’t this world be a wonderful place.”